The proposed Copper-Salmon Wilderness is one of three wilderness areas in Oregon
that Congress could act on this year.
The others include the 23,000-acre Soda Mountain Wilderness proposal in Cascade-Siskiyou
National Monument southeast of Ashland and the proposed expansion of the Mount
Hood Wilderness.

Last year, the Soda Mountain proposal was included in a bill by Oregon Sens.
Gordon Smith, a Republican, and Ron Wyden, a Democrat, to expand the Mount Hood
Wilderness Area by more than 128,000 acres. The wilderness study area in the
monument already has been determined by Congress to be suitable for wilderness
designation.

The senators also included a compromise agreement to remove cattle grazing
from the monument by authorizing the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to permanently
retire grazing allotments under an optional buyout agreement with willing ranchers.